Conventionally, operating object extraction apparatuses are disclosed, for example, in a Japanese patent document JP-A-2007-272596, in which the apparatus has an operation panel disposed separately from a display unit of a vehicular device and displays, as finger images of an operating hand on the display unit in a superposing manner, operating fingers on the operation panel captured by a camera for the purpose of enabling a remote control of the vehicular device. The operating object extraction apparatus of this kind uses the camera and a lighting device disposed on an opposite side of the operation panel relative to the operating fingers for capturing the finger images. The finger images are captured in a lighted condition and a non-lighted condition so that the difference of two conditions is recognized for imaging. The operating object extraction apparatus described above uses the difference image to extracts the operating object, that is, the finger images of the operating hand, thereby enabling the finger images not to suffer from the influence of external lights.
However, downsizing of the operation panel of the apparatus are desired in order to shrink the length of the operation strokes on the operation panel. Further, by reducing the size of the operation panel, the apparatus itself can also be reduced in size. The drawback of the size reduction of the operation panel of the apparatus is that a ratio of the operator's finger size against the size of the operation panel increases. As a result, the finger images displayed on the display panel of the vehicular device such as a display panel of a navigation apparatus occupies an increased portion of a display area of the display panel, thereby deteriorating, for the operator, the operability and/or intelligibility of the operation performed on the operation panel as shown in FIG. 20.
In view of the above problems, a prior art (JP-A-2008-158675) discloses a technique that calculates a finger tip position based on the extracted finger image, and displays a finger-shape figure at the calculated finger tip position. However, in the disclosure of JP-A-2008-158675, the finger shape, in particular the outline of the finger shape, is lost from the resulting finger-shape figure, thereby not leading to a satisfactorily intuitive finger-shape display, even though the finger-shape figure having a narrower profile than the real finger can be displayed. That is, the finger shape altered from the actual shape may not intuitively convey the operation facilitating information, thereby not leading to an improvement of the operability.
Further, when an operation panel or a touch panel is disposed closer with a user relative to a display unit of a vehicular apparatus in a vehicle for the ease of operation of a menu screen that is displayed on the display unit of the vehicular apparatus, user's hand is captured by a camera and is displayed as a hand image on the display unit in a superposing manner on top of the menu screen. For example, Japanese patent documents JP-A-H10-269012 and JP-A-2000-6687 disclose such apparatuses.
However, the user does not necessarily watch the touch panel carefully, thereby making it difficult for the user him/herself to intuitively recognize or understand which part of the user's hand (e.g., which one of the multiple fingers of the user's hand) is going to touch the touch panel. In addition, the user may be confused which one of the user's fingers should be used for a touch operation for, for example, selecting a menu button in the menu screen.